It has to be said, that one of my favorite parts of doing this blog is opening up an email reply from an artist, and reading the replies for the first time – and when its one of many artists who I have admired and followed for a time, its especially fun.

Sara Blake is one such artist, and, when I stumbled on the news that she was doing a solo show in Sydney the other week, I threw a whole slew of questions I’d been interested in asking since I first saw her work in Curvy and Yen Magazine – and, though busy as she was opening her show,  traversing the country and seeing all there is our continent has to offer, she had no problem squeezing in a plethora of interesting answers – which, unashamedly, has increased my love of her work just that little bit more …

You’ve had a busy last few weeks – what’s happened since you arrived here in Australia?

I’m here with my partner in crime, John, and we’ve been taking on the city on foot. We both live in New York City, and we do A LOT of walking there, so I seemed like the best way to get around. We’ve done a pretty even mix of the necessary touristy things like seeing the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, The Rocks, Bondi Beach, and the Botanical Gardens, but we’ve also been overwhelmed with hospitality from friends of friends who have taken us under their wings. Nanami Cowdroy and her partner Shaun, one your your amazing local Sydney artists took us out (kind of starstruck still). We’ve also just enjoyed walking around Surry Hills and Paddington, checking out coffee shops and galleries – there is such a wealth of talent here. And of course Leon and Grant from the gallery have been treating us like family and taking us out. Good times.

So, tell us about artistic life in New York City – are you still splitting your time between working in an ad agency and pursuing your illustrative work outside of there?

Right now I do live quite a double life. I work a lot and sleep just a little, but I feel lucky to make that lifestyle work and still get to do the things I love. Advertising has given me a great deal of perspective and a business mind. I think it’s important to understand the thinking behind a project. Both jobs have helped to inform the other. With that said, the dream has always been to one day transition to illustration full time. The future is looking bright.

Before you moved to NYC from Richmond to study at NYU, what were your initial goals, and did you always have in mind that you wanted to work in a creative industry? Reflecting back, do you feel the path has meandered or consolidated to a place with your creativity that is comfortable?

Every since I was small I remember wanting to be an artist when I grew up, but back then the concept seemed so abstract. I had no idea how to funnel those interests into a job.

I went into advertising through a combination of serendipity and hard work. I feel very blessed with my current situation, and feel I’m finally making strides that only seemed like pipe dreams before. As long as I’m making art and getting to share it with people, I am happy. Especially in the past few months, I feel my path is finally building into the dream I had as a kid. I still have a list of personal goals I haven’t yet reached, but I don’t want to jinx anything.

This is your first solo exhibition – and it is outside of the US – how did it come about that you are exhibiting in Sydney, and can you tell us a little about how the show was conceived?

Australia has been very supportive to me. I’m not quite sure how it happened, but I’ve definitely felt the greatest warmth from anywhere in the world here in Sydney. In 2009 I was accepted as one of Curvy’s 50 top female illustrators in the world, which then lead to a featured illustrator spot in Yen Magazine. I suppose somewhere along the road gallery owner Leon Krasenstein picked up a copy and contacted me about the possibility of a show. At the time it seemed so far away and so fantastical. I’m not sure I believed it was really happening until I arrived in Sydney and stepped into the beautiful gallery for the first time.

Constellations  – imaginative points in the sky, jointed pieces of a celestial puzzle – ancient images of ideas and philosophy taken back down to earth – the term has so many interpretations, connotations and uses, but what does the term mean to you?

Constellations seems to be the best term to make sense of the body of work I was creating. The year leading up to the show was utterly hectic both personally and professionally. I found I was creating disparate pieces, and sometimes couldn’t explain why, but decided to just roll with it. Leon had told me after seeing the first draft of work that it didn’t feel like me, and to remember to have fun and just do what I do. It was the simplest and best advice, and by freeing myself from a framework I was able to get back to the experimentation and freestyle method I love most. Constellations refers to what may seem to be a scattered body of work and subject matter, but which are all united through common stories, and through the same hand. I thought it was also appropriate for not only my first solo show, but my first international show. We all sleep under the same stars – lovers, enemies, birds, beasts … it just felt like the right word to describe a crazy year that ended up coming together to create a clear picture.

How important a role has the city you live in played in terms of the pieces that you are putting in the show? How perspective driven is the work?

To me I feel very deeply rooted in my city. Hundreds of its textures are layered digitally throughout my pieces. A couple at the gallery opening asked me the same question. They were surprised to see calm gazes and soft images of women, especially in the original pencil works which were also exhibited. I was advertised so heavily as an NYC artist, so I think they were perplexed that my work was not more brash or something. I hadn’t put much thought into this before—I just made what I made. While I don’t think that art is directly a product of it’s environment, I think it is definitely influenced in more subtle ways. Mine is probably on the more subtle side. There are elements of chaos and mess, fashion, color, and texture, all derived from NYC.

You are as equally comfortable with both hand-driven as well as pixel-driven media – but out of the two, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each in your work, or do you find them a cohesive force behind your style?

They are definitely cohesive. I couldn’t do what I do with only one. I’m equally comfortable both by hand and by computer, but there is a time and place for each. I don’t feel like my hand drawings ever reach a level of refinement, energy, or polish that they have once rendered digitally, and vice versa, I wouldn’t be able to create without the hand rendered foundation…I need that drawing to build on. It was really tough for me exhibiting the original pencil pieces for Constellations – I sort of felt naked and exposed.

Theres always an influences question – but I’m more interested in what you sometimes don’t tend to put into your work or draw influence from, and why  – are there any themes that you consciously or unconsciously don’t utilise when you are putting together a piece, or are your thematic impressions of a more automatic format?

Overall I try to not really think too much. When I do, I always get stuck. I have to think all day long about every pixel – the how’s and why’s – at my advertising job, and it can get really oppressive. I think removing that structure from my art has really helped me. It comes down to trusting your instincts, which in some ways can be really tough – it can be hard to trust something that has no evidence. I think one specific thing I do try to avoid overall is really overly-digital looking elements … things that look really constructed in Photoshop, for instance, overuse of the same brush, layer styles, outer glows, beveling, etc. and of course, NEVER EVER filters. I do however like to add flat vector elements like type, or shapes, once and a while. With that said – nothing is absolute. I’m not promising to never use an outer glow again in my life!

You have mentioned in a previous interview that you had an interest in creative writing, and that you wanted to fuse your love of visual works and writing, hence the work at an ad agency – since that time, has your interest in the written word played a part in the development of your visual work, and if so, how?

I still write frequently in my journal, but it’s mostly snippets of thought, observations, or stream of consciousness. I think writing helps me be more objective about things happening in my life. It’s like a temporary our of body experience of sorts, and it can be easier to look at your life as a 3rd party for a moment. I think that’s where I take a little bit of myself and transport it into the girls I draw – it’s never all me, but it’s part of their story. I always like people to write their own stories for my work though, so the writing element stays mostly behind the scenes.

You have been shown in a variety of magazines, you’ve been in Curvy, Yen, Village Voice and innumerable other publications and places – how have you found the general creative ride so far in leading up to this show – and where do you want to take things to next?

I’ve been blessed to be part of projects with a lot of trust on the part of the client. I’ve gotten to do whatever I want with the majority of them, so in that way, I’ve felt very fulfilled by illustration. That’s not to say a good art director can’t improve and help direct me. I’ve also gotten to work with some awesome mentors. Right now I’m taking steps with my schedule to make more time to draw which I hope will lead to the next generation of work…much for detail and much more work overall. I enjoyed the gallery show so much, I definitely want to pursue more exhibitions in the future.

You have to tell us all about Australia – pretend we don’t know anything about it! – what are your impressions of the place, both culturally, and artistically?

Australia, as you all say, was pretty “full on”. It was strange to come literally around the world and to land in a culture that is pretty much just like mine, except some of the rather important details – like coffee and traffic! Haha! I could NOT get used long blacks or to driving on the left, and almost got hit by cars a dozen times because I was looking the wrong way. As a culture, you guys are much friendlier, or at least friendly in a more outgoing sort of way. You are much more environmentally conscious than the US, your art scene is accessible and awesome, and you have city beaches that blow ours away.

So yea, needless to say, I love Australia and can’t wait for an opportunity to come back!

Sara’s exhibition “Constellations” is running until October the 18th at Friends of Leon Gallery in Sydney. Also check out Saras blog for more details and other cool stuff.